Kristin Chenoweth Joins Hairspray Live!

June 21st, 2016 | By Ryan McPhee

Miss OCU Kristi Dawn Chenoweth is reaching for that tiara once more. Tony and Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth will join the cast of NBC’s Hairspray Live!, taking on the role of Velma Von Tussle, the overbearing mother to Amber and notably racist producer of The Corny Collins Show. The live broadcast is set for December 7.

As Velma, Chenoweth will relish her heyday as Miss Baltimore Crabs, which shouldn’t be too difficult for the former beauty pageant contestant. This marks a reunion for her and Executive Producers Craid Zadan and Neil Meron, who were also behind ABC’s small screen remakes of The Music Man and Annie and produced the Chenoweth-led revival of Promises, Promises.

Chenoweth won a Tony Award for her performance in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. She was also nominated for On the Twentieth Century (her latest Broadway appearance) and Wicked. Her screen credits include an Emmy-winning turn on Pushing Daisies, as well as Glee, GCB, Hard Sell and The Boy Next Door.

The pint-sized soprano joins a cast of stage and screen favorites that includes Harvey Fierstein, who will reprise his Tony-winning performance as Edna Turnblad and adapt the show for the small screen, Jennifer Hudson as Motormouth Maybelle, Martin Short as Wilbur Turnblad and Derek Hough as Corny Collins. Maddie Baillio will make her professional debut in the lead role of Tracy.